Development of the perception survey
The survey was developed to assess the perception of four key concepts: the susceptibility and severity of the risk, as well as the benefits, and barriers linked to mitigating the risk. The perceived susceptibility is an individual’s belief that risk can occur. The perceived severity is the outcome of the risk. The perceived benefits are the expected effectiveness of the practices to modify the consequences. The barriers are the perceived obstacles to take action (Janz and Becker, 1984) or to obtain benefits from these actions. Four major risks having an impact on honey bee were assessed, i.e., climate change, Varroa destructorinfestation, pesticide exposure, and management practices. In addition to the close-ended questions assessing the perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits and barriers, questions related to demography (e.g. age, years of experience, and the number of hives), psychological characteristics (risk aversion), bee mortality rates, health responsibility, actions, and influences have been asked. Beekeepers’ attitude to risk was derived by measuring their degree of risk aversion using four statements on general issues (i.e. to read the medicine prescription instructions before using them, to carry a first aid kit, to take financial risks in order to invest and increase financial opportunities, to consult various people before taking a decision) (Appendix S1 ). The variable ‘relative risk aversion’ was obtained as an average score of the stated values. To ensure consistency, the questions were formulated in such a way that “yes” implied a higher value and respondents could rate their agreement with the statement on a hundred-point scale (0: not at all in agreement, 100: completely in agreement) using a visual scale. To check the respondents’ rationality and internal consistency, some of the above variables were assessed by multiple questions and consolidated in an average (seeAppendix S2 ). The questionnaire was pretested individually on two experts in beekeeping and four beekeepers. It was then launched online via the platform LimeSurvey.